Ex-Chelsea ace Michael Essien bizarrely found himself at the centre of a cruel hoax after a report surfaced that the Ghanaian midfielder had contracted Ebola.

Online Nigerian newspaper, NewsWireNGR, were seemingly duped by tweets from Twitter user @YuryAlkaev – who claims to be a sports journalist – reporting that AC Milan had confirmed that Essien had caught the killer disease.

However, after the story started to create a stir on social media, AC Milan sources quickly moved to scotch the claims, insisting any reports are fake and that no interviews had been given to Nigerian media.

SOURCE:metro.co.uk

statement from Micheal Essien's instagram:

iam_ess
16 minutes ago
I'm very fit and very healthy,No truth in the internet rumours that I have contracted Ebola.im well & will be training as usual tomorrow.The Ebola virus is a very serious issue and people shouldn't joke about it.Whoever wrote this article is very unprofessional and insensitive...!!!#Jahbless✌️

woever wrote dat article has started taken dat tin again... 9ja sha